The unexpected Made in Italy: Muller Thurgau from Sicily

The Muller Thurgau sparkling wine from Sicily was first time presented in 2014. One of many examples of de-regionalisation that also come from the world of wine. From one point of view we return to the enhancement of the native but from the other varieties are now grown even outside the suitable areas. An typical case is the Müller-Thurgau in Sicily for the production of sparkling wine: “The vine was already present in the vineyard of the estate -says Maurizio Gandolfo, commercial director of Tenuta Gorghi Tondi (Mazara del Vallo, Trapani)- but only used for cuts and corrections. In 2014 we presented at Vinitaly the Muller Thurgau sparkling wine obtained with the Charmat method, the same used for the prosecco. We started with a production of 20 thousand bottles of the total of 1.3 million of the cellar. "

The company exports 10% of the bottles in 27 countries: “The decision of the natives -says Gandolfo- was forced because we cannot compete with international varieties, products from other countries such as Australia, Chile, California. Foreigners, however, are struggling to identify the native (autoctoni) Italian wines for the excessive territorial segmentation. As for the bubbles we can instead move differently, we can play the card of Italian sparkling wine in opposition to the French champagne and Spanish cava, then each company will characterize its offerings based on the diversity dictated by the climatic characteristics of the production area”.